The musical adaptation of the beloved New Line Cinema Christmas film runs through December 14, 2025

Thanks to Buddy the Elf, ELF THE MUSICAL has plenty of holiday cheer. Jack Ducat has large shoes to fill as the beloved film character Buddy, a now adult man raised on the North Pole by Santa (Andrew Hendrick) and his elves— who must then venture into the wilds of New York City to meet his human father. Will Ferrell’s performance in the original 2003 film is embedded in the holiday movie zeitgeist — so it’s a big ask. Luckily, Ducat is magnificent in the role. He captures Buddy’s sprightliness and endless optimism and cheer. Ducat also eschews making his Buddy into Will Ferrell 2.0 — his acting choices make the character immediately recognizable, without feeling like a copycat.

Directed by Philip Wm. McKinley (and restaged for this tour by Dave Solomon), Ducat’s boundless energy makes ELF extra cheery in this national tour. On the whole, I thought Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin’s book was more distinctive than Matthew Skylar and Chad Beguelin’s songs. Meehan and Martin capture the film’s “sincere with a wink” energy in the spoken dialogue. Beguelin’s lyrics are functional, but mainly forgettable. 

That said, some songs serve the story well, while others feel like excess teddy bear stuffing from Santa’s workshop. The opening number “Happy All The Time” delightfully establishes Buddy’s eternally cheerful nature — and his slightly out-of-place nature on the North Pole. While Ducat is terrific singing Buddy’s big “I Want” song “World’s Greatest Dad,” the show didn’t need to reprise it.

The catchiest number by far is “A Christmas Song,” a duet and later ensemble number for Buddy and Jovie (Felicia Martis), a seasonal elf employee Buddy meets at Macy’s. While Buddy and Jovie’s relationship remains cringey — as nice as Buddy is, it mystifies why she’d be so interested — Ducat and Martis together are lovely. Martis nails Jovie’s surliness and has a pretty, pure singing tone — though Jovie’s second act solo “Never Fall In Love” doesn’t add to the plot.

I enjoyed the performances from Buddy’s family members immensely — but his Grinch-like workaholic father Walter (Jeff Brooks), his stepmother Emily (Yara Martin), and his 10-year-old brother Michael (Camden Kwok, who alternates with Ryan Duck) are given the most boring songs in the show. I know the writers wanted to establish a contrast between Buddy and his family, but there’s a few too many songs about Christmas either being a nuisance or a wish. Still, Kwok is especially warm and adorable as Michael. He has impressive stage presence and diction for such a young actor, and he’s a nice companion for Buddy. 

ELF shines every time Buddy appears on stage — and Ducat radiates holiday cheer. ELF needs audiences to believe in Buddy even more than in Santa. Ducat makes it so easy to root for him and his journey to connect with his family, while still maintaining his unending loyalty to Santa. For audiences who want to see a beloved film character brought to musical life, or looking for some holiday cheer, ELF does the trick. This would be a fun family outing, and Ducat truly had me smiling the entire show — he’s an absolute gem of a lead. 

ELF THE MUSICAL, presented by Broadway In Chicago in partnership with Crossroads Live North America and Temple Live North America, plays the Auditorium, 50 East Ida B. Wells Drive, through December 14, 2025. Tickets are $40-$110. 

Tickets: broadwayinchicago.com

Photo Credit: Evan Zimmerman for Murphymade 

Originally published on broadwayworld.com

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FAQs about ELF THE MUSICAL in Chicago

What theater is the show playing at? The show runs at the Auditorium, 50 East Ida B. Wells Drive, Chicago, IL 60605.

How much are tickets for ELF THE MUSICAL? Tickets are $40-$110.

Where can I buy tickets for ELF THE MUSICAL? Visit BroadwayInChicago.com to buy tickets. 

How long is ELF THE MUSICAL playing in Chicago? ELF runs through December 14. 

AMADEUS at Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a lively and sprawling production of Peter Shaffer’s play. Director Robert Falls, the recently retired former Goodman Theatre Artistic Director, makes his Steppenwolf directorial debut with one of the best uses of Steppenwolf’s Ensemble Theater I’ve seen. The open play space can pose a challenge because it doesn’t allow for a traditional proscenium staging, but it’s a great fit for AMADEUS. In Falls’s production, ensemble members flit in and out of the theater’s many entrances and exits, mirroring the cacophony of Habsburg high society. Todd Rosenthal’s sparse set design, replete with glimmering chandeliers that recall PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, allows Amanda Gladu’s opulent and colorful costumes to take center stage.

Continue reading “Review: AMADEUS at Steppenwolf Theatre Company — A Lively Production of Peter Shaffer’s Play About Imagined Rivalry Between Mozart and Salieri” →

HELL’S KITCHEN, the Alicia Keys jukebox musical now making its Chicago premiere as part of the first national tour, has a messy storyline wrapped in slick packaging. While the show is loosely based on Keys’s childhood in Manhattan, the storytelling is generic, and the songs are often awkwardly incorporated into the book. Admittedly, Kristoffer Diaz’s book is weak. It’s a flimsy vehicle for Keys’s song catalog. Huge Alicia Keys fans might enjoy hearing her biggest hits performed by musical theater actors, but the plot around them doesn’t hang together.

The musical follows 17-year-old Ali (Maya Drake, a recent high school graduate in her Broadway debut), who lives in subsidized artist housing at Manhattan Plaza with her overprotective mother Jersey (Kennedy Caughell). Dede Ayite’s excellent and colorful costumes place us squarely in the 90s. Outside of being a regular sassy teen, Ali’s main interests include: her crush on a young man named Knuck, who doesn’t know she’s only 17, and learning to play the piano from her talented neighbor Miss Lisa Jane. Jersey’s personality is characterized by her desire to have dinner every night with her daughter. That’s not inherently bad, but it’s odd that Diaz includes so many dinner scenes. The overprotectiveness and the consistent dinners seem, of course, like a way to compensate for Ali’s absent father Davis (Desmond Sean Ellington) and as penance for Jersey’s own mistakes. 

The mother/daughter dynamic makes up the show’s center, but Diaz also throws in tons of other plotlines and underdeveloped characters. Both Ali and Jersey have close friends who appear briefly in the first act, then mostly disappear. Ali’s preoccupation with Knuck comes to a truly bizarre conclusion at the end of act one in which the musical pivots from failing the Bechdel test to briefly commenting on police brutality and systemic racism. It simply doesn’t work for HELL’S KITCHEN to try and go deeper, but the story sadly isn’t cohesive enough to be immensely fun, either.

I think the challenge comes from the fact that Keys’s back catalog isn’t a ready fit for a musical. The songs come from different albums, so the lyrics focus on various narratives. I usually really enjoy bombast if I’m going to see a jukebox musical, but most of Keys’s songs featured here are more mid-tempo. This includes “Kaleidoscope,” a showpiece for Ali that’s one of three new Keys songs in the show. In addition to the scattered storylines, Diaz’s book frequently includes awkward transitions to song — or essentially no transitions at all. I appreciated some creative attempts to encapsulate the songs, but it’s still awkward when Keys’s love songs become duets between Ali and her parents.

That said, that’s also the main reason to see HELL’S KITCHEN. Ali and Davis duet on “If I Ain’t Got You,” under the guise that Davis wrote the song for her. It’s a ridiculous idea since it’s so clearly a romantic love song, but Drake and Ellington sound great together. Drake has an exceptionally bright tone and a lot of vocal power. She’s an affable presence, but the role doesn’t give her much to chew on. The vocals are where she shines. Ellington has an impressive vocal range, and his more mature voice blends nicely with Drake’s brightness.

Likewise, Drake and Caughell sound lovely on “No One” at show’s end. Caughell has a straightforward contemporary Broadway voice, which is sometimes at odds with Keys’s style, but she sounds great here. She also has some welcome opportunities to use her powerful belt.

I wanted a little more power from some other voices in the cast. JonAvery Worrell has a sweet tone, but his voice is a bit thin — the band often drowned him out. I enjoyed Roz White’s acting as Miss Lisa Jane, but she has incredibly raspy vocals that were not my taste.

Overall, Ali and Miss Lisa Jane’s relationship is the most specific and ownable storyline. In one scene, Miss Lisa Jane explains to Ali that she comes from a long line of Black female pianists, and how it’s important to honor that legacy. Sure, it’s a little didactic, but it feels educational in a way that’s true to the material. It’s also a natural fit for an Alicia Keys musical.

Beyond that, Diaz’s book, Michael Greif’s direction, and Camille A. Brown’s choreography often feel chaotic. The plot flits frequently between the story lines, never grounding us in specific moments or characters. I enjoyed hearing Keys’s big hits, but many of the other songs are awkwardly placed. Unfortunately, HELL’S KITCHEN lacks the vibrancy and specificity of its New York City setting. Hard-core Keys fans will probably still want to see this — but you’ll have to be in it for the songs, not the story. 

HELL’S KITCHEN national tour plays Broadway In Chicago’s James M. Nederlander Theatre, 24 West Randolph Street, through November 30, 2025. Tickets are $40-$149. Patrons can enter a digital lottery for $30 tickets and limited day-of rush tickets are available for $49 in-person at the box office. 

Photo Credit: Marc J. Franklin

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FAQs about HELL’S KITCHEN National Tour

Where and when is HELL’S KITCHEN playing in Chicago?

The show is at the James M. Nederlander Theatre, 24 West Randolph, in downtown Chicago through November 30, 2025.

How do I buy tickets? Tickets are available online at broadwayinchicago.com or in-person at the Nederlander Theatre box office.

How much do tickets cost? Tickets are $40-$149. Patrons can enter a digital lottery for $30 tickets and limited day-of rush tickets are available for $49 in-person at the box office. 

What is the running time of the show? The show runs approximately 2 hours and 35 minutes, including one intermission.

Is Alicia Keys in the show? No, Alicia Keys wrote the score and is a producer, but she doesn’t appear in the cast.

Kokandy Productions’ expertly sung JEKYLL & HYDE arrives just in time for spooky season — or cold winter nights. This is exactly how I like my Halloween-adjacent fare: Leslie Bricusse and Frank Wildhorn’s eerie and contemplative musical has a sense of creepiness, but there’s no blood or gore. Even the body horror here is imagined — yes, David Moreland transforms from the kind Dr. Henry Jekyll to his evil inner counterpart Mr. Edward Hyde, but his physical appearance remains unchanged. That’s precisely the question the musical explores though: If you suppress your true self and inner darkness for too long, what untold horrors unfold when it finally comes out? 

Continue reading “Review: JEKYLL & HYDE at Kokandy Productions “ →

This new PARANORMAL ACTIVITY stage play (based on Paramount Pictures’ PARANORMAL ACTIVITY horror films) has terrific stage effects and absolutely creeped me out. While I’m decidedly not a horror fan (in fact, I actively avoid the genre), this production captures that “edge of your seat, what terrifying thing will emerge from the dark next” energy. Levi Holloway’s script itself is extremely light on plot and character development. Based on the merits of the script alone, there’s not much to recommend in the material. But it leaves plenty of room for creepy effects and terrifying stage surprises — and the inventive and frightful production is definitely the selling point! 

Continue reading “Review: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY Stage Play at Chicago Shakespeare Theater” →

Sandra Delgado’s new play HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF STARS hits the stage at an eerily relevant time. Set in 2015, it follows Clara, a Green Card holder who’s been in the United States since she was two. Now facing the possibility of deportation on two counts of cannabis possession, Clara may have to leave behind the only home she’s ever known — and her 12-year-old daughter Stella, her ex-husband David, and her father. Delgado’s story is an important one, especially right now with the forcible ICE presence on the streets of Chicago. That said, Delgado’s storytelling methods are straightforward and overtly didactic.

Continue reading “Review: HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF STARS at TimeLine Theatre Company (Hosted by Lookingglass)” →

The world premiere musical runs through November 22, 2025 in the Owen Theatre

The world premiere musical REVOLUTION(S) at Goodman Theatre is provocative and timely. With direction by Steve H. Broadnax III, book by Zayd Ayers Dohrn and music and lyrics by Tom Morello (with a host of lyrics by other artists) — of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave fame — this is a show that draws on rock musical traditions. As a musical theater fan for whom RENT was a critical introduction to the art form, I see a lot of that same youthful, rebellious energy in REVOLUTION(S) — but this material is more radical and violent. Fans of shows like RENT and AMERICAN IDIOT will find much that’s intriguing here. Likewise, I think the musical is highly interesting, engaging, and genuinely provocative  — even if it doesn’t always cohere. 

Continue reading “REVOLUTION(S) at Goodman Theatre” →

All the spectacle and creativity of director Julie Taylor’s original vision for THE LION KING remains gloriously intact in this new national tour. THE LION KING was one of the first touring musicals I ever saw many years ago in Chicago. And for sure I was hit with a wave of nostalgia listening to Elton John and Tim Rice’s classic Disney score (with additional music and lyrics for the stage musical by Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Julie Taylor, and Hans Zimmer). It’s impossible to resist the allure of tunes like “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” and “Hakuna Matata.” 

Continue reading “Review: THE LION KING National Tour Presented by Broadway In Chicago” →

This “ad-rap-tation” of JULIUS CAESAR runs through October 19, 2025

ROME SWEET ROME, the latest production from the Q Brothers Collective at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, has a cool concept: JULIUS CAESAR, but make it hip hop. Like the group’s previous endeavors, the show takes a classic Shakespeare play and updates it with modern sensibilities. The resulting show, though, is really on the nose, both in terms of parallels to the current political climate (here, Caesar is an authoritarian leader who loves the sound of his own voice) and in the writing itself.

Continue reading “Review: ROME SWEET ROME at Chicago Shakespeare Theater” →

Steppenwolf opens its 50th anniversary season with Rajiv Joseph’s dark play about a kidnapped 15-year-old girl returned to her parents

MR. WOLF simultaneously fascinated and repulsed me. This play from Rajiv Joseph, now in its Chicago premiere to kick off Steppenwolf’s 50th anniversary season, is gripping and terrifying. It centers on 15-year-old Theresa, who was kidnapped at the age of 3 by the titular Mr. Wolf. Now, by a miracle, Theresa has been safely returned home to her parents. And while Theresa is in good physical health, the play slowly unfolds a number of twists and turns that reveal just how much trauma the teenager has endured.

Continue reading “Review: MR. WOLF at Steppenwolf Theatre Company” →